Bad News

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) — Workers have been evacuated from a former uranium enrichment plant in Tennessee after yellow smoke was seen coming out of a ventilation stack.
U.S. Department of Energy spokesman Walter Perry says the smoke was reported about 8:30 a.m. at a building that processes metal and chemical waste in Oak Ridge, about 20 miles west of Knoxville.

Perry said the department is not asking the public to take any protective action, but workers in surrounding buildings were told to take shelter in place.

No injuries were immediately reported. Firefighters were responding.

The site where uranium for the first atomic bomb was developed has been undergoing cleanup and conversion into an industrial park for several years.

The headline of the article, as it appeared on the Washington Post's website on Thursday was straightforward and to the point. As Johnson writes in the article, "Securities regulators unanimously embraced a plan that they said would slash costs and restore common sense to an audit rule attacked as too expensive by business groups and lawmakers."

However, when that same article by Carrie Johnson appeared in yesterday's AbqJournal, the headline was "SEC Votes For Plain Sense." I would link to the article, but the Journal didn't make it available on their website.

Having read the original article, the Journal's headline struck me as example of an editorial comment than a headline.

The SEC commission defended their vote saying it was a common sense decision, but the Journal's headline reads like an endorsement of their decision.

Whereas the Washington Post's headline was a factual reflection of the article's content, the Journal's headline was an interpretation of the story.

The Journal seems to take a lot of liberties when it comes to printing articles. I've noticed in the past that they'll publish a David Roybal story on a Sunday and then again on a Wednesday. Sometimes they just seem a little desperate for content.

Last night blogging seemed to make another evolutionary leap when KRQE's Dick Knifing reported that Blogger, Joe Monahan, reported on his website that Democrats are considering redistricting CD 1 to beat Heather Wilson, after Madrid lost by less than 1000 votes in November.

While I am a supporter of independent media and believe that Monahan is almost as much of an institution as Knifing, it's none the less disturbing that Knifing chose to cite Monahan as the source of the information despite the fact that Monahan doesn't cite the source of his information.

Being that Monahan is a blogger, I don't think it's a big deal that he didn't disclose the source of his information. However, when Television news anchors report on the same story, I do expect more thorough reporting, such as a first hand source.

That said, I don't doubt the veracity of Monahan's report that Dems are looking for an alternative route to defeating Heather Wilson in 2008. In this case, Dems in CD 1 would be following the path first blazed by Tom Delay and the Texas legislature, in seeking a mid-decade redistricting.

Interestingly, yesterday was also the deadline for candidates seeking a recount to file with the Secretary of State. Given that no request for a recount was filed with the Secretary of State's office, it would appear that all that huffing and puffing from the DPNM about requesting a recount after Madrid conceded the race seems to have been a lot of hot air. (nytimes even.)

Why the party didn't demand the recount is anybody's guess. I say they didn't because they couldn't. Madrid conceded so they had no candidate to file the recount, hence no recount, hence, thanks a lot Patricia.

My gripe here isn't about Democrats losing to Wilson...again. That's a separate gripe. Instead, I'm bothered by the fact that we somehow passed an election reform law that provided us a paper trail but prohibits us from following it.

We spent $20 plus million dollars so that we could have a system in place where the accuracy of the machine count could be independently verified. But because of the law and because of political careerists, we won't be able to verify the accuracy of the machine count until after the general election in 2008.

It's really kind of mind-numbing that Democratic leaders in the state would walk away from this experience and the first thing that they'd think to do is gerrymander the district.

The inference is that if Patsy couldn't win, then who could?

I don't know about you, but I find that a pretty insulting question. The campaign's over, guys. You can stop bullshitting us. That is unless you're already working on her next campaign.

NEW MEXICO: Republican senator Pete Domenici is probably safe if he runs, which he has signaled that he will do. If he changes his mind, however, Democrats will see this as a good pickup opportunity. They’ll probably want a better candidate than attorney general Patricia Madrid, who has just come off a losing race against Rep. Heather Wilson but who nevertheless harbors political ambitions. Wilson herself could be a contender if Domenici leaves the scene.

However, Dennis and Nicole hosted another show this morning that again bothered me enough to make their show the topic of a post.

Maybe it's that the show follows Meet the Press--who's high production value and journalistic standards make it a tough act to follow.

None the less, I offer the following criticism in hopes that it might be constructive for KOB-TV.

The format of Eye on New Mexico doesn't lend itself to a fact based discussion of the issues because there's no substantive information or background provided by the two journalists who host the show, Dennis Domrzalski and Nicole Brady.

This morning's episode on Abq's transportation system could have introduced some of the basic facts of the proposal and stats on the current bus system before introducing the guests. You know, that thing where you cite articles, officials and experts...what's it called again? Story telling? No. Reporting! Yeah, that's the ticket. Reporting. You guys should do that. That would be great!

Without a sufficient summary of the issue and reason for the guest's appearance, the show fails to give viewers a criteria for judging the positions of the guests.

But if there was one thing that really bothered me about this morning's show it was
Dennis Domrzalski laughing at a joke made by Greg Payne at the expense of the other guest, who clearly suffers from Parkinson'.

The guest, Sylvio, who's last name I didn't catch, asked if he could finnish his statement before Greg Payne began speaking, to which Greg quipped "I don't know, can you?"

Payne's comment was gratuitous but Dennis Domrzalski reaction was unprofessional. Dennis laughed long enough that they were able to switch to camera 2 to catch him still laughing and bouncing his pencil off the show's kindergarten sized desk and shaking his head.

This is unacceptable in at least two contexts; role modeling and stewardship. The Board and Administration require students to hold themselves accountable to a code of ethics. The Board and Administration have an obligation to serve as role models of that accountability. That obligation needs neither explanation nor justification.

The Board and Administration will ask taxpayers to entrust nearly a half a BILLION dollars to their stewardship. Yet no one of them will be held honestly accountable to spend the money ethically.

If voters and taxpayers knew the truth, the outcome of the September bond issue might well be affected. They will cast their ballots unaware of the fact that, by their own choice, the leadership of APS is accountable only to the law, the lowest standard of acceptable conduct.

Voters will remain in the dark because the local media will not report the truth.